God Damn Last Minute Costume Sewing

I have had it with God Damn Last Minute Costume requests.

I made all those damn costumes the night before the Ren Faire!

My family is frankly - spoiled when it comes to me making costumes for them.  I ask well in advance of costume required activities - Ren Faire, LARP Conventions, Halloween, etc. - What do you want to wear?  Do you need me to make something?  Etc...  Here is what I hear - "Oh, I'm thinking about it."  or "Oh, I don't know." 

And so I wait...6 weeks in advance turns into 4 weeks in advance - and I ask again.  "Oh I'm still thinking about it."...

I made all that stuff too...

And now its 2 weeks in advance...  I ask again.  "Oh I'm not sure."

And now its 1 week in advance...  I ask again!  "I think I know but I"m not quite sure."

So 2 days before the frikkin event I hear what is desired.  A tunic.  With a greek key design along the outside.  So I say to my Spouse, come over here and I hold up the muslin to him and eyeball the right length.  Then I rip the fabric and he says, "What are you doing?!" 

Megan wears the dress and leather rose crown I made.

I'm making your frikkin costume!  You didn't give me time to buy a pattern or specific fabric!  I have to get this thing made and I still haven't packed for the convention!!!

I think it came out okay...  But the photo of him in it?  Buried in a computer file somewhere...So enjoy these photos of other last minute costumes I pulled square out of my butt!

Sweater for a Ghost

My dear sweet Spouse was watching me crochet something out of yarn that I had spun.  This yarn was teal with black and when it spun it kind of made a candy cane pattern in a distinctly gothic way.  This color combo apparently appealed to him because he said to me, "I would like for you to knit me a sweater out of that yarn. Oh wait, I can't ask you to knit me a sweater...(pause here for explanation)

The Sweater Curse - If you knit your boyfriend a sweater, he will break up with you.  This knitter myth is substantiated by numerous first hand accounts of sweater-related break-ups.  I have shared this myth with my spouse and so he was well aware of this curse.

...Maybe you could knit a sweater for the ghost that lives upstairs...(pause for explanation)

The Ghost that Lives Upstairs - my evil Spouse told me that there is a ghost that lives upstairs and he has seen this ghost sitting on our bed with my head in her lap and she was stroking my hair while I slept.  This revelation was given to me in the middle of the night.  Can you say CREEPY!?!?

So, my Spouse knows I knit two sweaters for my ex.  Maybe he is a little jealous of these labors of love, since I've been married to him now for 10 years and I've never knit him a sweater.  I've made him leather armour, necklaces, scarves, tunics, pants, big floofy ren faire shirts and all kinds of other stuff, but no sweaters.

SO I'm charged with spinning the wool for a sweater big enough for the ghost that lives upstairs to loan to my Spouse.  He wears an extra large sweater and I needed to determine how many pounds of wool roving are required to make a extra large sized pull-over.  After some internet-fu I come to the conclusion that 3 pounds should be sufficient.

Here is where I share with you the financial realities of spinning wool.  It is frikkin expensive!  First you buy the wool and that's about $15-20 a pound.  Then you spend hours on end spinning it.  Charge what you like per hour for your time.  For myself, I charge $20 an hour because I am not a sweatshop worker.  I spent the next month spinning wool in my spare time after spending $75 on wool (with shipping and handling).  SO about 12 hours of spinning at $20 an hour... Then I bought dye in black, blue and red.  That was about $20 for the dye.  So including the cost of my time, the sweater is costing over $300.  And I haven't dyed the wool nor knit the sweater yet!!!


That damn ghost!

Rock Paper Scissors Cards

For the big convention last year, my dear Spouse wanted to have a souvenir to give to other players who attended a meeting he was hosting in character.  The game uses Rock Paper Scissors to determine outcomes and RPS is a psychological game that some people are really bad at.  The solution is Rock Paper Scissors cards.  This makes the outcome really randomized.

 Of course, if my Spouse wants something made, he usually comes to me with it.  So I buy a laminator and I come up with a back for the cards but finding graphics for Rock Paper Scissors and Bomb is just really not happening for me.  How does the solution find me?  In My DREAMS!!!!  Yes, I dreamt that I paid someone to draw me simple graphics of the hands making those signs.  This artist is someone I work with and the next day I said, "Hey David, I had a dream about you last night!  Will you draw 4 simple line drawings for me for a small but significant amount of money?"  He was all about it and by the end of the day I had 4 8 1/2" x 11" drawings of hands.

Rock Card Graphic

I scanned those puppies and threw them on the backs of the cards.  I used a copy machine to do double sided copies and a paper cutter to make them the size I wanted.  Since then I've moved to using the business card template and business card stock to save time. This does NOT save money.  But time is money so maybe it does...

Lamination 101.  There are basically 2 kinds of lamination.  There is the adhesive kind that is two pieces of plastic with goo in between.  You put your stuff in between the plastic and press it closed.  The second kind is better and more expensive.  This is heat lamination.  You have a hot machine with rollers that you put a plastic pouch with your stuff inside it into.  The rollers run it through and it melts the plastic together.  This stuff doesn't come apart!  The laminator is fairly cheap - I got mine for $35.  The laminate - the plastic - is where they get you - kind of like ink jet cartridges...  A box of 100 business card sized laminate pouches is $20.  Putting your stuff through the laminator is super easy - just make sure its straight and you put the closed part of the pouch through first so you don't get bubbles.
 
If you need to make RPS cards, drop me a line on etsy and we'll talk.  If you want me to make them for you - same thing - drop me a line.

This was an expensive endeavor, but I now have the ability to create RPS cards or other laminated stuff at will.  The end result was very good and people liked the product.